Fruits - Specimen details

Fruits - Specimen details

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Catalogue Number: 58201

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Plant Name 121.00 PEDALIACEAE Harpagophytum procumbens Entry Book Number 18.1991.1
Artefact Name Fruits Vernacular Name
Iso Country Botswana TDWG Region Botswana
Parts Held Fruits Geography Description Botswana, Gaborone, Africa
Uses FruitsUse: MEDICINES - Muscular-Skeletal System Disorders User: Not defined TDWG use MEDICINES - Muscular-Skeletal System Disorders
Storage Bottles, boxes etc Related Items
Donor Cook FEM, ECOS RBG Kew Donor No
Donor Date 00/02/1991 Donor Notes
Collector Cook FEM Collector No
Collection Notes Collection Date 22/05/1990
Exhibition Expedition
Number Components Publication
Notes: Label source: Devil's claw is a plant which grows in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana and Namibia. After rain, the plant produces beautiful pink trumpet like flowers. The fruit has several outgrowths which are armed with thorns, these give the plant the n, ame Devil's Claw or Grapple. The storage tubers are dug up by the inhabitants of the Kalahari Desert in Western Botswana. The people slice and dry the tubers, after which they are bought by Thusano Lefatsheng. Thusano Lefatsheng, which is a rural developm, ent organisation, employs women to do the crushing of the dried material and the packaging. The healing properties of the storage tubers are very well known in traditional medicine in Botswana. The plant has also been recommended by many healers in Europe, and elsewhere for a wide variety of illnesses, amongst them rheumatism, artritis, hypertension, kidney, gall and liver disfunction, stomach and intestinal disorders and skin problems. It seems to have a general cleansing effect on the body. Directions fo, r use - Put one teasp. in 500 ml of boiling water and let it infuse overnight. The following morning, strain and press liquid out of the wet pieces. Separate the liquid into three equal portions which should be drunk 10 mins before meals, three times a da, y. Note - The tea should not be sweetened and it should not be made in an aluminium container. The Kalahari Devil's claw should be kept in a dry place.

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